One Cannot Love and Be Wise
by Lirillith
Summary: Three people, falling for each other and unable to admit it.


A set of drabbles (each paragraph is 100 words) written for a prompt meme on Tumblr.

_Mamihlapinatapei - The look between two people in which each loves the other but is too afraid to make the first move. _Or three, in this case.

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* * *

**Karina**

* * *

Everyone thinks _she's _obvious with her crush on Kotetsu, and okay, maybe she is, a little. But what about Barnaby, telling the whole world in his interviews about how there's this one hero, who's, what? Reckless, a little _wild _(super-subtle, prettyboy) and impulsive, but with his his heart in the right place? Something like that? And that hero is the _wind beneath his wings._ Noooo, he's not in love with Tiger at _all._ Not one bit. Nowhere _near_ as obvious as _she _is, clearly. She's the one everyone needs to pick on all the time right in front of Tiger.

* * *

** Kotetsu**

* * *

Everyone says he's oblivious, but Kotetsu notices more than they think. He noticed right from the start the way Bunny treated Blue Rose, like a boy pulling a girl's pigtails. He was being a jerk, but he was doing it on purpose. He didn't bother being that obnoxious to most people. And he got better, over time; nicer, less harsh, more relaxed. It was like he blossomed or shed his skin or something. He still teased Kotetsu and Blue Rose both, but Kotetsu didn't mind; he liked seeing Bunny happy. Shame he'd gotten under Blue Rose's skin so early, though.

* * *

** Barnaby**

* * *

In most respects, Kotetsu isn't as forgetful – or as unobservant – as Barnaby used to think, but if he's genuinely clueless about Karina's feelings for him, he has an impressive blind spot. It's obvious to everyone else, even Sky High. Barnaby feels for her, not that she'd want his sympathy. He can hardly blame her for wanting to keep it secret. Developing feelings for any of their – colleagues? Rivals? – would be an awkward proposition all on its own, let alone a widower with a child, a man twice her age. A man who seemed to still consider himself married and unavailable.

A man who was over-fond of his bad puns and his ridiculous beard, meddlesome, irresponsible and immature – and also kind, fearless, utterly dedicated to doing the right thing, devoted and loyal. Falling in love with Kotetsu is embarrassing, but Barnaby couldn't have avoided it either. That's the one thing that lets them connect. Karina had been giving him the cold shoulder for months, and she was all business at their dance lessons, but when he talks about Kotetsu – whether to explain his behavior or share her exasperation – she unbends, and lets him see the real person behind the ice-queen facade.

* * *

** Kotetsu**

* * *

If she was older or he was younger, things would be easier, but as it is, whenever they talk, Kotetsu's reminding himself, _twenty years._ They can be friends. They're both heroes, so it's not like he's some random creep hanging out with a teenage girl. They have things in common, and he likes spending time with her. She's a good kid, brave, not to mention smart and sarcastic with quite a temper. It's just that she's got her whole life and career ahead, while he's a washed-up old man wishing he was twenty years younger, and reminding himself he's not.

* * *

** Karina**

* * *

Karina had learned things about Barnaby over the year she'd known him, thanks to the news and interviews and her fangirl of a mom talking about him at dinner, but it wasn't until she was standing in the door of a hospital room, watching him holding an unconscious Tiger's hand, that it all clicked. He loved Tiger the way she did, but he had nothing else. She pressed her hand to the aching spot where she kept her feelings though not her veins-and-arteries heart, and wished she'd never thought any of the snide things she'd intended to say to him.

* * *

** Kotetsu**

* * *

It takes him a while – he may not be as dense as Antonio says but he's pretty well-medicated right now – but he finally figures out that Bunny is wheeling himself to Kotetsu's hospital room despite what the doctors say and not because. It's probably just that they're friends, and Kotetsu almost died, and Bunny's still freaked out; what are the odds it's more? But they keep having these long silences that feel full of meaning, feel like there's something unspoken between them, and it's not just Bunny; it's with Karina, too. It could be nothing. It's probably nothing.

Kotetsu's just bad at hospitals. They make him tense, too many bad memories crowding against one birth, and that and the drugs are probably throwing off his perceptions. So he cracks stupid jokes to break the tension when they have those long silences. When Karina starts crying and tells him how much she'll miss him, he pats her shoulder awkwardly and promises he'll email her. When he wakes up to find Bunny holding his hand, he just squeezes Bunny's hand and acts like it doesn't mean a thing. And when he hears the two of them talking, he pretends he's still asleep.


End file.
